Sandy's destruction: Thousands still without power (with video)

AVON LAKE -- Mary Shueger has been without power since Monday and is worried about how her wheel-chair bound aunt, a resident at Independent Village in Avon Lake, is faring in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, Shueger said yesterday afternoon.

Independent Village has been without power since Monday as well. Her aunt is on oxygen and is using a portable oxygen tank while they work on repairing the power. She has since gotten a bigger portable oxygen tank. Her aunt's room also has no heat, Shueger said. An auxiliary generator is running the kitchen and workers are bringing hot food to the residents, but it is cool by the time it reaches them.

Shueger does not have flashlights and is using candles since the power outage. She went to her dad's house in Lorain to shower and then went back to her house in Avon Lake to sleep. She joked that she's fine, but her children were getting antsy.

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"My teenagers are going crazy without Wi-Fi," she said.

"What I miss most is a hot shower," said Mary Fiyalko, of Avon Lake, who was at the Old Firehouse Community Center playing bridge with some of the center's regulars. "The hard part was opening my garage doors to get my car out because it's a metal double door and I missed my coffee to get me started in the morning."

The Old Firehouse, 100 Avon Belden Road, was opened to all, providing a warm place for residents to charge their cell phones, watch cable TV, play cards with friends and even enjoy a hot meal provided by Jim Smith, the executive chef of Sprenger Health Care Systems.

"Normally, the community centers are closed whenever the schools are closed, but for this we decided to open up today," said Lisa Goodwin, recreation program coordinator for Avon Lake.

"It's been a rough couple of days for everybody," said Vicki Wilson, of Lorain, who frequents the community center under normal circumstances. "With my power flickering a little bit, and hearing the branches being thrown against my window - at least I still have windows - but knowing I could come down here and see some other people and talk with some people who have been without power since Monday, I just wanted to come down here."

Mayor Greg Zilka expects that power will be restored to all of those within the city by the weekend, but reminds those waiting on the lights that the city is not authorized or capable of working on the electrical system itself, rather FirstEnergy is responsible for repairing the grid.

Residents of Avon Lake can receive up-to-the-minute updates directly from the city through a service called CodeRED which sends updates to subscribers via cell phone, landline and text messaging.

"We have found that during this storm we have had many more people sign up," Zilka said. "We have used it throughout the last two days, and plan to put out more to let people know what the status is, as far as outages, and let them know what they need to look forward to."

For more information about CodeRed, and all other updates in Avon Lake, residents can visit the city website at avonlake.org.

Thousands of people in the are still coping with being without power as 4,350 remain in the dark in Lorain County, 438 in Erie County and 50 in Huron County as of last night, according to FirstEnergy data.

The largest outages in Lorain County remain in Lorain with 689 customers in the dark and 2,901 customers without power in Avon Lake. Repairs have been especially problematic in Avon Lake because there are several old trees in the community that fell, there were still high wind gusts off the lake and the electrical for several customers is in the backyard, not the street making access more difficult, FirstEnergy spokesperson Mark Durbin said.

Overall, more resources are arriving today as crews deal with more repairs and the majority of power is expected to be restored by noon Friday, according to FirstEnergy.

Durbin asks for customers patience to help the process go more smoothly. "We greatly appreciate customers patience. Our crews have been working long hours since the beginning," he said.

Shelters and reception areas went up throughout the area to help those left in the dark for days.

The community room at the Bay Village Police Station, 28000 Wolf Road, is open as a temporary shelter for displaced people, a Bay Village police dispatcher said.

Several Bay Village residents had to be evacuated as older trees fell on houses and cars, according to a Bay Village police dispatcher.

City Hall is running on a generator, while police face problems as several phone lines are down. There is only one working general phone line and one 911 line up and running, the dispatcher said yesterday.

The fire department has been busy helping elderly people on oxygen who lost power, by delivering generators. Police have also responded to some neighborly disputes over the noise created by generators.

Police are so busy that even the chief of police is running out on calls. Flooding is the minor issues where as downed trees and power out are the biggest concerns.

In Lorain, Huron and Erie counties flooding is receding, but workers are still responding reports of downed tree and wires. Avon Lake is offering a relief area for those needing assistance. The Old Firehouse Community Center is open for any residents that need a place to warm up, have a cup of coffee or use the phone from 1 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. today.